Scotland benefits by paying for its energy, not UK's mistakes

● By David Toke, University of Aberdeen ● Could Scotland benefit from having an independent electricity system? Our report published this week found that it could – if it meant Scotland paying for (and benefiting from) its own renewable energy, without having to pay for the expensive UK nuclear power programme recently agreed south of the border. The Scottish government has committed itself to a target of meeting all its electricity demand from renewable energy by 2020. It has also refused to allow new nuclear power stations to be built in Scotland. The problem for a nuclear-free Scotland is two-fold. First, Scotland faces the prospect of having to pay not only the high and increasing price for nuclear power – the “strike price” required to persuade French utility giant EDF to build Hinkley Point C nuclear power station – but also its share of UK’s renewable power subsidies. Second, it seems unlikely that the UK government will now fund much in the way of offshore renewables around Scotland. On the other hand, Scotland has made strong progress in deploying renewable energy in the country, with onshore wind in particular adding to biomass combined heat and power, some solar and hydro-power capacity. We project that by 2018, the earliest plausible date that the market could be restructured to allow Scotland greater electricity independence, around two-thirds of the Scottish government’s renewable energy target will have been met. The issue would then be whether it would be cost-effective for Scotland to finance the other one-third of the target while not carrying the burden of paying for nuclear power. The cost of nuclear power We calculated what a renewable energy programme controlled and paid for by Scotland would cost, if its government paid incentives for renewables broadly similar to those the UK government offered for nuclear power ...Zum vollständigen Artikel

theconversation.com - 8 Leser - Could Scotland benefit from having an independent electricity system? Our report published this week found that it could – if it meant Scotland paying for (and benefiting from) its own renewable energy…